I think this deadpan (東京オンリーピック 開会式＜フルバージョン＞) animated take-off of the Olympics may be one of the subversively funniest videos of the year....

As he says, "the giant motorized pigeons feasting on acrobats [and]...[t]he giant Buddha sweeping teams of competitors off his tongue into the Olympic pool" are alone worth the time. But there so much more.

December 16, 2008

The zoo separated them because they kept stealing other penguins' eggs---"they were caught
placing stones at the feet of parents before waddling away with their
eggs." (MailOnline) This is the sweet part:

But angry visitors to Polar Land in Harbin, northern
China, complained it wasn't fair to stop the couple from becoming
surrogate fathers and urged zoo bosses to give them a chance.

If you hadn't just lived through 8 years of Bush and Cheney, you wouldn't believe this could be possible.

Since you just have, your outrage and incredulity meters shorted out a long time ago and there's nothing left of them but a few busted springs going boingy-boingy-boingy 24/7. You'll probably just say, "Huh." So I'm noting this for later, when we've all had our sense of moral outrage restored at least to pre-Katrina levels.

November 30, 2008

Hey, AIG found out a way to carry out a stunning public relations ploy by giving up their bonuses, while totally paying themselves big bucks as "retention bonuses"! Ad-mir-able! Deb Cupples discusses it here.

At Angry Bear, rdan quotes self-serving statements of AIG execs made to FT, in which they explain how retention bonuses are way better.

November 28, 2008

by Damozel | Like Nora Ephron, I am practically in love with Chris Matthews despite
his many, many flaws and excesses. Watching him when he isn't talking but listening causes a thrill to go up my leg. So I am trying to decide how I feel
about this.

November 07, 2008

by Nicholas | OMFG!! It looks as though John McCain’s dignified concession speech is about as good as it gets as far as the Republicans are concerned. Of course, any losing side in an election will hold an inquest, examine where its weaknesses were and generally make plans to do better next time. One or two sacrificial heads may roll -- that is to be expected -- but in general it’s always a good thing to keep recriminations as restrained as possible

Things in the Republican camp may be a bit more vigorous than that right now. If we are to believe what we read and hear (And why shouldn’t we? The meltdown is delicious!) there is a vast build-up of latent hostility between the McCain camp and the Palin camp that is about erupt into a bout of name calling , finger pointing and backstabbing . And Sarah herself it seems, is not the adorable bimbo everyone thought she was. Okay, she was a bimbo, but not adorable (Well, some people thought she was adorable. I always found her repulsive). We all know that she had no idea what the function of the Vice President is, and that she seemed to think that the First Amendment existed to protect her from the probing questions of reporters. Now it appears that she didn’t know which countries were included in NAFTA. And she thought that Africa was a country, not an entire continent. Yes, she could always be advised about these facts but surely, someone who wanted to understudy the presidency, who has reached the age of 44 and who has been through university, should already know these things. These aren’t arcane details of something outside the mainstream -- these are essential facts.

Have a look at this page from the Huffington Post and make sure you play the clip from The O’Reilly Factor on the Fox News network, which isn’t exactly known for its love of the Democrats. Tantrums? Paper throwing? Making her staff weep? So much for adorable. America had a narrow escape last Tuesday.

October 27, 2008

by Blue | Speaking of moms:Man. Why is The New York Times doing these columns anyway?

A third grader's mom discusses her feelings of anger and jealousy and a mix of other things I don't want to think about too closely when she discovers that some little third grade girl has written "I [heart] Oedipus" (<not his real name) on a bathroom wall. When the son finds out, he is--to the mom's relief--devastated.

“Someone wrote my name on the girls’ bathroom wall,” he mumbled. His
little shoulders sagged with the weight of being in the third grade.

“How does that make you feel?” I asked.

“Horrible.”
He pushed his hair out of his eyes then came to me. His lunch pail
banged into my backside while he leaned his head into my belly...

October 24, 2008

by Teh Nutroots | Ashley Todd, the McCain volunteer in Pennsylvania who alleged she was mugged by a black Barack supporter at an ATM---and that he carved a backwards "B" on her cheek (backwards like it would have been if someone was looking in a mirror while carving it)---was lying. At least that's what the police say.

September 25, 2008

by The Puppet Mistress | Okay. Maybe the video below reflects beliefs that are a little weirder than those held by, say, Mitt Romney, George W. Bush, Andrew Sullivan---or for that matter, me. I mean, don't all religious practices and beliefs look a little strange from outside? It's so hard to judge.

September 18, 2008

Then please read this piece by Mike Madden in Salon. Here's a taste, which should be enough to scare anyone who worries about McCain's age and history of invasive melanoma (which worries me more than his age).

Soon, Todd Palin was getting copied on e-mails dealing with official state business. He had already helped write the state budget, gotten involved in personnel matters
and called up lawmakers when he -- or Sarah Palin -- had a bone to pick
with them. Apparently Palin's inner circle figured they better include
him on messages about pending legislation or ongoing controversies,
too. The First Dude's involvement in Palin's efforts to get her
ex-brother-in-law fired from the state police force have now earned him
a subpoena from the Legislature, and he also allegedly intervened to have John Bitney (a former friend) fired
from the state payroll for having an affair with the ex-wife of one of
Todd Palin's buddies. The Washington Post reported last week that the
Palins billed the state $1,371 for Todd's airfare to Washington, when
he joined Sarah Palin at a National Governors Association conference,
and for the whole family to fly around Alaska watching him compete in
the Iron Dog snowmobile race....